FAQ: Company Registration

Not sure what trade mark class you require? Contact us and one of our qualified lawyers will assist you.

Free legal support line: +61 3 9832 0660

A proprietary limited company (“Pty Ltd”) is a separate legal entity which is registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

A company is treated as a separate “legal person” from which you can run businesses, all in the company’s name.

A company is owned by members (or shareholders) and run by at least one director.

Anybody over the age of 18 who is not bankrupt can register a company in Australia. There must be at least one director who is resident in Australia.

Anybody wishing to set up an Australian company should use Company123. Our service is suitable for:

• Current sole traders wishing to incorporate their business
• Current partnerships wishing to incorporate their business
• New business wishing to incorporate a business

We charge $AUD 37 (plus GST) to incorporate your business for you. You will also be required to pay the $AUD 495 ASIC registration fee. Our company registration fee is therefore $532, which includes both our fee and the ASIC fee.

Once you have all the required information at hand, it should only take you about 5 minutes to complete our online application forms. All going well, you’ll be up and registered 1 minute later.

As well as an Australian address for the business, you’re going to need the following:

For each Director:

• Full Name
• Residential Address
• Date of Birth
• Place of Birth

For each Member (shareholder):

• Full Name
• Residential Address
• Proposed Shareholding

Yes, and if you already have a business name you can use this too, but note that ASIC requires it be registered in uppercase letters and it end in PTY LTD.

Sometimes your proposed name may require manual review – this can happen if your name is too similar to that of an existing business. On our registration page you’ll find a search bar which you can use to check whether the name you want to use is available. If your name gets rejected we can help you choose a new one.

Once registered, you’ll be provided with a Certificate of Registration and Australian Company Number (“ACN”), as well as all the other documentation you will need.

You’ll also receive your ASIC Company Key in the mail after about 3-5 business days. The Company Key allows you to log on to the ASIC website if you need to update any of your details.

As part of your company name, we provide options of Pty Ltd, Pty. Ltd., Pty Limited and so on.

In fact, they are legally identical. It is purely a matter of style and preference.

However, if you wish to change it after registration with ASIC, you need to perform Company Name change which occurs $403 ASIC fee.

Once registered all dealings are done directly with ASIC.

We can help you update the company documents, however its required that ASIC is also needed to be notified with the changes.

We will prepare ASIC form and other necessary documents for you.

Please contact our support team 03 9832 0660 or support@company123.com.au with any changes.

You certainly can!

Enter your ABN number in the first page of form. You can convert your registered business name into a company.

Please note that, the name must be identical.

Also the ownership of business name and new setup company must be the same as well.

Your company has been registered with ASIC.

The company is ready for trading.

All you need to do is to print out the documents and sign on them.

Director needs to carry the company documents to the bank physically to open a bank account.

Company123 allows you to register proprietary companies limited by shares.

This is by far the most common form of company and is almost always used for the conduct of small and medium sized businesses which choose to operate as a company.

Also, you can setup Corporate Trsutee for Unit and Family Trust.

You may also specify that your new company will have the sole purpose of being a SMSF corporate trustee.

However we don't support registration of public company.

Yes, a proprietary company limited by shares can have one director and one share member who may be the same person.

Information you will need to gather includes:

• - Full name, full residential address and date and place of birth for each director or secretary of the company.
• - Full name, address and number of shares for each member of the company.
• - The address of the registered office and principal place of business.

Company123 allows you to save your application at any point, so the easiest way to find out would be to start the process. If you find out you don't have all the required information save the application and come back later.